Military Option Against Syria Is Alive And Kicking
U.S., Saudi Arabia and Jordan are reportedly helping rebels plan attack starting in south and spreading to Damascus.
By Zvi Bar'el | Feb. 24, 2014
The inhabitants of the blockaded villages around Damascus have found a novel way to deal with the shortage of natural gas. They throw leftover food and animal dung into a pit that is three meters deep and three meters wide and lined with plastic sheeting, and they add water and cover it with more plastic sheeting. When the contents of the pit begin to ferment in a few days' time, a small pump is installed in the pit to suck out the gas. The pump is connected to a pipe, which is connected directly to gas stoves on which food is cooked.
These villages, located in the district of Al-Ghouta al-Sharqiya, were the first to suffer from the chemical attack by the Syrian army in August 2013 and have been under siege ever since. Over the past few days, the Assad regime has intensified its attacks on these locales, mainly to avert the coordinated attack upon Damascus that they fear will come from Jordan, through the desert. The towns in the southern district of Daraa are also being shelled to prevent a possible attack from the direction of the Jordanian border.
According to reports in the Syrian media and on websites run by the opposition, Jordan is replacing – or perhaps has already replaced – Turkey as the rebels’ new base of operations. Every month, between 200 and 250 combat soldiers undergo exercises in the Jordanian special forces’ training base near the city of Salt.
Meanwhile, the United States is constructing runways for reconnaissance aircraft near the border between Jordan and Syria, and in recent weeks Saudi Arabia has flown weaponry and ammunition purchased in Ukraine to bases in Jordan. The Gulf states have sent many convoys of food and tents for use by new refugees.
All of this is apparently being done in preparation for a large military operation that reports say will originate in Jordan and extend across the desert in an attempt to reach Damascus. A military headquarters for coordinating actions in Syria has been established in Jordan. The U.S., Saudi Arabia and Jordan are jointly planning the way the attack will be launched, and according to The Washington Post, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have already prepared a list of militias that will be receive advanced weaponry.
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